


The mystery that is Conor and Harry

by theaussie



Category: A Monster Calls - Patrick Ness
Genre: Conor is unsure, Harry is Confused, Multi, One Month Later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-04-26
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:01:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23628109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theaussie/pseuds/theaussie
Summary: One month after the events of A Monster Calls, Harry gets out of recovery, and there is tension between everyone at school. How will the relationships of the characters change?
Relationships: Harry/Conor O'Malley
Comments: 3
Kudos: 8





	1. The start of the day everyone was waiting for

‘Oh Shit’, Conor groaned, and then some more.

Today was the day that Harry was returning to school, and Conor was feeling prickly at the thought of talking to him. They had not seen each other since there little incident in the canteen, and Conor really did not have an idea of what Harry was going to come up with. There was still so much mystery between the two, even more so now than previously.

Conor was now at the table eating breakfast, as his Grandma came into the room. ‘Good morning Conor,’ she said, with Conor giving little back. ‘I heard that Harry kid is coming back to school today after a couple a month off, is that right?’

‘Yes,’ Conor mumbled.

‘Oh don’t be such a grump, you did hurt him seriously you know.’

‘We’ve been through this before, I didn’t mean to, it didn’t even feel like I touched him! He’s an asshole anyway!’ Conor yelled back.

His Grandma shook her head. ‘He might have changed, Conor. Regardless you two should at least talk it out. Have some respect for each other.’

……………………………….

The 45 minute car drive was a long one, and longer than usual. He had been getting used to it in the month since his mother had passed, yet with the rising tension between the two it felt like hours until they finally reached the school. Once parked, Conor’s Grandma spotted Lily and told him to say hello for her. Lily and her Mum had helped out Conor in the past month. Conor didn’t always enjoy Lily’s chattery company, however it was good to have a sort of friend. Conor still couldn’t trust after what she did, but she had at least been helpful to him of late.

‘Hey! Conor!’ Lily said as she moved away from her group. ‘Harry’s back today!’ Conor did not answer and kept walking past her to sit on his own. Lily always hated when he acted like this. She was hoping that he wouldn’t be so damned at Harry’s arrival, however she knew she should not get her hopes up.

…………………………………………

Harry was halfway through his 15 minute walk to school. For once, he was actually nervous, feeling a great weight of pressure that had been amounting during his time from school. In terms of his injuries, he still was using crutches, however, his upper body injuries had recovered quickly, much quicker than normal for someone who had abstained injuries of that type.

He had been fretting and worrying about what could happen today. It was unlike himself; his parents were taking notice. They were trying to get him to change, and although Harry was dreading it, he did NOT want to change school. 

He was unsure of how to talk to Conor. Should he avoid Conor? Should he be nice to Conor? Would Conor hate him? There was so much confusion about the events that had unfolded, Harry kind of just wanted Conor to never have existed. 'But I don’t want that,' he thought confusedly as he crossed the road.

One more block to the school now. One more block to terror. One more block to chaos, confusion and a perilous ache in the chest.

…………………………………………..

Conor twiddled his thumbs and looked over at Lily. She was back with the group of friends. She wasn’t talking though. She wasn’t even listening to the conversation. She was looking in the opposite direction towards the gate.

In the one second afterwards about 100 heads instantly turned in the same direction as Lily’s. Harry. Has. Arrived. Conor, with a sudden influx of adrenalin, looked in right in the eye. 

'Gotta be cool, gotta be cool,' Harry was saying to himself as he turned the final corner. Fifteen metres to the gate. 10. 5. He looked up. All he saw was a dark haired skinny kid on his own sitting about 50 metres away. He had a look of coldness, direct, almost hawklike, but that wouldn’t be a word to describe Conor. It was something else. Something he had only seen in Conor’s Grandmother in fact. He tried to direct his look away. Away to the other mass of kids staring as he walked through the gates. But he couldn’t. He just could not.

Then Sully saved him. ‘HARRY’S BACK!!!!’.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, how you doing?   
> Hope you will enjoy this! If you see something wrong, just let me know and feel free to comment!  
> I will try to update every one or two days. At least I have time on my hands!


	2. The rest of the day that everyone had been waiting for

People started to murmur as Anton and Sully walked over to greet Harry. Conor, with great relief, averted his gaze, and focused once again on twiddling his thumbs. Lily, however, was watching still with great interest.

‘Hey,’ Sully greeted, looking at Harry as Anton followed.

‘Come over here, Anton too,’ Harry said as he walked over behind the shed, a place where they wouldn’t be looked. Even though Harry was more than used to the attention, he felt as if those eyes laying on him were waiting for him to do something to Conor. He did not want to hurt Conor though, really. He didn’t really want to hurt him all those years beforehand. How bad really was it though? It was only just gentle teasing.

‘What are you doing?’ Anton asked. ‘People aren’t just expecting you to hide in a bush behind the sport shed.’

‘Well what do they fucken expect, they’re the ones who are looking at me like I’m some deranged convicted pedo.’ Harry was angry. All the nerves had travelled outside of his body, and been replaced by hot headed fireballs. ‘What do you care anyway?’

‘Because…..Because……… you’re Harry?’ Anton could not find any other words to describe exactly why they followed Harry around by the flanks of his shoulders. Harry, however, knew exactly why. He was seen as powerful, strong and a leader, however did people still see him exactly that way? Or was he paying for the way he had treated that O’Malley boy and ignored others like they were meaningless house flies.

The bell rang. People started heading back to class and Anton and Sully drooped a little as they left Harry standing behind the shed. He wondered whether or not Conor had gotten up yet. He stayed behind a couple of minutes, just in case, for he was only on the other side of the shed.

Conor, for once, had actually got up right when the bell went and headed straight for class, trying to move in the crowd to avoid a run-in with Harry. He knew he was going to have to suck it up at some stage, but for now, he waited. He wanted to see how Harry acted. His head was aching with questions. Would he be angry? Would he be sorry? Conor did find himself amused when he saw out of the corner of his eye that Harry had gone behind the shed. He couldn’t hear exactly what they were saying, but he heard voices raise. He wondered what Anton and Sully were thinking right now. Is the ‘master’ not so great as they thought him to be? Conor chuckled at the thought.’

…………………………………………….

Miss Marl was drabbling on about the second world war and Conor was almost certainly not listening. He had one thing that was constantly being pulled with grappling hooks to the forefront of his mind. And that was Harry. Thankfully, he was sitting over the other side of the room from where he and Lilly were sitting. Unfortunately, he was constantly turning his head, and taking quick looks at Conor. Never once did their eyes meet exactly, however, there were a few near misses, one time Harry almost falling out of his chair, causing the class to stir. Anton and Sully were still sitting near Harry, however, were looking downward, unsure of who to follow in this very moment. Was Harry still going to be their leader? Or was he falling through the trenches, delving deeper and deeper, becoming something that he wasn’t? Lily was obnoxiously tapping her feet constantly, so much that after a while Conor even had to tell her to shut up. Five minutes later, however, without noticing, she started up again, inducing a kick in the legs from Conor, who gave her a look. She gave him a look back, and with that, they did not talk to each other for the lesson.

Conor tensed. For a second there his eyes were looking directly into Harry’s. There was coldness, nervousness, confusion and fear, in those eyes, all wrapped into one. Conor could swear that he even saw a pinch of sadness to go with the platter of emotion. Were his own eyes much the same? Suddenly, he felt a pinch of sorriness for Harry, similar to that pinch of sadness in his eyes. Where did that come from? He was not supposed to be feeling sorry for Harry. Or was he? Conor just decided to shut it all out of his brain, and after that, the day was passing quickly. 

……………………………………….

That was, however, only until the final bell rang. At 3:20 in the afternoon, students started tumbling out of the school, with Anton tripping a smaller kid over. Lily said goodbye to Conner, who had to wait for his Grandma to pick him up. Usually, she was right on time, but every now and then her stupid real estate job kept her behind a little longer. 

Harry was walking slowly behind the crowd, so no one would bombard him, as had happened multiple times today. He had already had three girls try to flirt with him, but, he had bigger things on his mind than that, he thought, and pushed it to the edge. By the time Harry had finally reached the gate, everyone was gone, except for Conor, and a few other students who he supposed also were waiting for parents too pick them up. Although for Conor, that would probably never happen again. He only had his Grandma now. Yet again, Harry felt a pang of guilt travelling up his throat.

‘I’m sorry.’ It was only an impulsive squeak, just as he was walking past the boy. 

Conor looked up. ‘What?’ 

It felt cold. It felt like he wouldn’t forgive him. Did he want forgiveness? ‘I SAID I’M SORRY!’ This time as a yell that almost made Conor flinch. Harry’s eyes almost looked as though they were on fire with the amount of anger he let out with that sentence. A kid in year 11 yelled for them to fight. The look that Harry then gave him shut him up real good.

‘Well, are you going to say anything? Or are you just going to stare at me like some plant?’

Conor intensified his stare, and the two looked as if they were about to start a boxing match, both seemingly growing taller and taller. Conor, even after all his thinking in 1st period, still was at ends with himself. Should he forgive? 

Conor shoved past him, almost knocking Harry over, and crossed the street.

‘Same old O’Malley, same old,’ Harry taunted as he also crossed the road. Once again they were face to face. ‘Didn’t you hear me, O’Malley? I said I’m sorry, I said that I was sorry,’ Harry repeated.

Conor looked down the street. The car approaching was his Grandma’s Toyota, sprinkly cleaned. When the car approached, Conor looked back at Harry. ‘Fuck off, you idiot.’ Harry’s face for once, actually drooped, and his eyes dropped the intensive fire they were 5 seconds ago. There was no conflicting emotions now. There was only sadness. Only despair. Conor could have sworn he saw a tear. 

………………………………………………

‘That boy you were standing with, dear, that was Harry was it not?’ Grandma was never one of conflicting emotions, that is for sure. She still had those cold, prickly eyes, that even when you were both looking in opposite directions, you could feel them, you could feel them eating into you as she picked out words in an answer that you were giving her. Conor had grown used to it over the years, but that did not mean he was immune to it.

‘Yep.’ Harry just was not in the mood for that. However amused he had been at Harry’s crippling face, it meant that he actually did care. That he might actually care about how Conor felt about him. It just doesn’t add up. Bully him for all that time and then suddenly care for that very same person?


	3. The Monster who plays a game.....

While Harry was drooping home it started raining. Conor wasn’t happy with him. Why should that be a problem? Yet all he could think about as he walked was Conon and how much he would do for him to forgive him. He DID regret bullying Conor. He DID feel like he should have gone a different way about his feelings. What were those feelings anyway? Did they make sense? No. Definitely not. Did they mean anything? Harry tried to push those unanswered questions out of his mind. Unsuccessful

He reached his front doorstep and looked at the door. His Mom would be home, his Dad still at work until five. He looked at the front garden and the amount of flowers. Goodness, Mum really overdid it. He opened the door. He walked inside, and as he walked in, he noticed something strange. His mother was not home. He checked her bedroom. No. He checked down in the basement. No. He phoned her mobile. ‘You have reached the phone of Wendy Heslington. Please leave a message.’

Harry looked up at his white ceilings in his bedroom, about 3 x 3 metres. It was neat and tidy, for if it was otherwise, his Mum would have been right on his tail, her sternness right on him. He tried his Dad’s number. Voicemail. ‘What the fuck is happening?’ Harry had no answer to the perhaps rhetorical question. He looked worriedly about his mother’s unexplained absence. Was it a coincidence that no one had picked up on the end of their line? 

………………………………………………………………..

The Monster was playing his game. The Monster was playing his game.

……………………………………………………………………..

Conor looked at the clock. 

12:04

Most nights he still stayed up, waiting for that final digit to turn from a six to a seven. Of course, the Monster had never come back, though. Conor wasn’t sure if he did want it to come back or not, however in the finals minutes building up to the time that it would come, there was a longing for it, a longing for it to talk to him. Can he call it? He doesn’t even remember doing anything to make it come walking the first time.

12:05

Would it come tonight? Would tonight be the night?

Conor thought of Harry. He wanted to talk to him now. His head had flicked a switch. Like there was a pull drawing him towards thinking of Harry as a good person that wasn’t there before. ‘No! Stop thinking of him like that!’. 

12:06

Conor wanted to forgive Harry, but then he didn’t. He kept flipping sides for that whole minute, up until he felt a little whoosh. That whoosh turned into a wind, then a swirling breeze of leaves.

Conor looked up into the night, and outside of his window, he saw a yew tree. Conor smiled. Finally. It had come. Conor slid out of his window. He took a double-take. He felt like he saw two figures standing next to the yew tree. Against the dark of the night sky, he started making them out more clearly. The faces were mixed with worry and confusion. ‘Wait a second,’ Conor thought, for they weren’t just any faces. They were the faces of Harry’s mother and father.

Conor looked up at the Monster. ‘What the Fuck have you done now’.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of a short one. I feel like I could wreck this fanfic very to bits very easily........


	4. The monster plays his game pt. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Monster's at it again.

The Monster looked Conor dead in the eye, with the mist swirling around them constantly.

‘You know full well what I am doing, Conor.’ The Monster looked in a different direction, there were sounds and there were bangs. A person came through the door. A person with piercing blue eyes.

…………………………………………………..

Harry walked around his house hurriedly, for what the fuck was going on? He looked in the fridge. No soft drinks. Some juice would do. ‘Why don’t I just call the cops?’ he muttered aloud. But he didn’t. He just couldn’t. He felt something else was at play here, and an ever-growing force was drawing him towards Conor’s house. Why was everything connected to that bloody kid? 

Before Harry knew it, he was standing outside Conor O’Malley’s house. ‘Why am I even doing this?’

He opened the front door and as he did, a wave of chills were sent through his body, knocking him over onto the floor. He got up and looked around. The wind seemed to be centring to a room down the corridor. Harry walked, albeit slow, for that wind was crazy. Harry reached the door of the room, and when he saw what was happening in the room he snapped right back into reality. ‘What the f-?’

………………………………………………………

The Monster laughed. Was that evil? Conor’s mind was so out of it, he had no space for processing emotions. He looked back towards Harry, and almost instinctively without prior thinking whatsoever, leapt out in front of him, protecting him from the Monster. For was the Monster the enemy now? Conor had wished for it to come walking for so long now, and this happens?

Harry could not help but feel a sense of contentment as Conor jumped in front of him, but he pushed those thoughts to the back of his head. ‘No time for that now.’ 

Conor, directing his angry confusion at the Monster, yelled ‘Don’t you dare hurt them, you rat. And what about maybe explaining what you are doing here, holding people hostage!?’

The Monster just continued to laugh. However about 10 seconds later, as Conor opened his mouth to speak, the Monster calmly answered. ‘Let me ask you a question, Conor.’

Conor, expecting something else said ‘Okay,’ in an all too awkwardly aggressive way.

‘Now, I want you to answer this question HONESTLY.’ The monster’s wind intensified as he said that last word. The moon was now providing light through the window, although it was slightly unhelpful, due to the fact that the Monster residual power seemed to be blocking all other weather and lighting effects. The Monster opened his mouth to speak. ‘Have you been lying to yourself again Conor?’

Conor shivered. Seriously? Again? This stupid Monster.

Conor shook his head furiously. ‘No I haven’t. No, I have not been lying to myself.’

The Monster shook is head. ‘I know you do Conor, just like last time. And you know it too.’

‘Conor,’ Harry whispered from behind. ‘What the hell? Wait a second, is that thing from hell?’

Conor looked back around. ‘I’ll explain later.’

Harry’s parents spoke for the first time, or tried to. As soon as they opened their mouths the Monster spoke. ‘You know why Conor. You know why. You MUST be honest with yourself. Tomorrow night you will tell me the truth. You see….. I am your friend. Not your enemy.’

And with that the monster disappeared, the wind diminishing and the eeriness started escaping from Conor’s room. 

‘Oh my god… HARRY!!!!’ His parents huddled around their son. ‘W-w-what just happened?’

They both looked over at Conor. ‘Is this because of you? You’re just trying to get our son in more trouble, aren’t you? That’s what you’ve always been doing you slimy little rat.’

‘Mum it is not his fault,’ Harry said back. ‘Didn’t you see? That….. thing…. I don’t what it was but that thing was trying to hurt us all.’

Conor caught light of a shadow. ‘Well I think you’ve got some explaining to do you four. It is 1 bloody fucking 42 in the morning!!!!’


	5. Don't lie to me, and don't lie to yourself

Conor stammered, ‘T-the Monster came again. And he kidnapped Harry’s parents.’

Grandma looked over at Harry’s parents. For once they were damn quiet, not blabbering on about how good something they did last week was, or just how ‘wonderful’ their son really is. They were in fact not even moving their eyes, like they’ve seen a ghost. Harry, on the other hand, had seen it before, that time in the cafeteria when it had bashed him up. 

Grandma fainted. Right down on to the floor.

………………………………………………………….

Lily turned back to look at Conor. ‘So…. You two are kind of friends now? I mean you’re at least not enemies now.’ That earnt a glare from Conor and she turned back to face boring Ms Marl and her English homework.

There was, however, some truth to her comment. With what happened last night, the tensions between Harry and Conor weren’t as tightly strapped as they were the day before. They had to talk about what happened at school, too, as Harry’s parents were less than willing to stay at Grandma’s house one more second than they needed too. So before school, as Conor was filling Lily in on the nights' hysteria, Harry joined the huddle behind the shed, and, Conor surprised, seemed this time happy to be ‘friendly’, and the three talked up until the bell.

It was now the last lesson of the day, and Conor was thinking about the monster. Would it come? Would it come with Harry and his parents. He hoped not, but before he could think any longer, the bell rang for the end of school, and Conor felt himself walking side by side with Harry. Why did he feel a sense of joy when this happened? Lily said goodbye and wished them good luck for tonight with whatever happens, walking with a smirk on her face as the two boys continued walking together.

‘So, uh…. What happens tonight?’ Harry asked looking in the other direction, at some trees off in the distance. Not a yew tree.

‘Well, I think we just do what we normally, and see what happens. I mean, surely he isn’t going to capture your parents again is he?’

They reached the gates, and Harry bid Conor goodbye and started walking down the street. He wanted to turn back around and look back at Conor, but he didn’t. He kept walking, turned a bend, and stood still for a minute. He just couldn’t understand his yearning for Conor. He couldn’t understand since he first felt it years ago. He couldn’t understand why he turned to bully him for a year. He opened his door to his home. For once, it was a relief to see his Mum standing in the hallway.

…………………………………………………

Grandma turned to Conor as they reached the doorstep. ‘That bloody yew tree better not tonight,’ she said and Conor agreed and walked in.

Conor looked at the clock. 4:07. 8 hours to go. Will it come? Will it not? Those were the questions Conor had asked himself for the past couple of months, hoping it would. No he hoped it wouldn’t. He didn’t understand. Yes, he knew what the monster was talking about. But why? This is something else. He shouldn’t be fiddling with this. 

………………………………………………….

12:06

One minute to go. Hang on, how much left of that minute? Conor had no idea, as he tugged nervously at his quilt his Mother had made for him.

Swish…… Swoosh…….

Conor looked around with dread on his face. He begged for it to stop. ‘Why doe this always happen to me?’

‘Because,’ the Monster was now standing if front of his bed, ever crouching, ‘You are not telling the TRUTH.’

Conor looked around his room. Why? ‘Go AWAY,’ Conor shouted at the great mass of leaves and branches.  
The Monster violently shook, bringing dust down from the ceilings. ‘Not until you tell me. And you know what about. I will give you until tomorrow night to work out my feelings. And then, you will need to tell the person who you have those feelings for.’

‘NO… No, NO NOOOOO!!’ 

And with that, the Monster was gone from Conor’s view, back on top of the hill 40 kilometres away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry i haven't updated in a while......
> 
> Believe it or not, I actually have had no time this past week. Will look to start posting regularly again. 
> 
> Not sure where this is gonna end either, so....


End file.
